Sponsors (68)
The bill strengthens civil‑liberty protections for noncitizen immigrants by narrowing wartime internment authority, but it reduces executive flexibility and could hinder rapid wartime immigration enforcement or emergency security responses unless alternative authorities are provided.
Noncitizen immigrants (non‑naturalized) would no longer be subject to automatic wartime detention or restrictions under this statute, restoring individual civil‑liberty protections for people in that group.
Reduces broad, discretionary executive internment authority during wartime, increasing judicial and legislative checks on emergency detention powers and limiting unilateral use of internment by federal officials.
Federal homeland‑security and law‑enforcement officials would lose a statutory detention/removal tool for foreign nationals during wartime, potentially constraining their ability to respond quickly to individuals who may pose security threats.
Wartime immigration enforcement and emergency public‑safety actions could become more legally complicated or slower without a replacement authority, risking delays in protective measures or operational uncertainty for agencies.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Repeals federal statutes that authorized the President to apprehend, restrain, remove, and regulate "alien enemies" in the U.S. during war or invasion.
Official title: To repeal the Alien Enemies Act, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 22, 2025 by Ilhan Omar · Last progress January 22, 2025
Repeals longstanding federal statutes that let the President, after a declaration or proclamation of war or an invasion, apprehend, restrain, remove, and regulate non-naturalized foreign nationals (called “alien enemies”) aged 14 and older within the United States. It removes the specific statutory authority that authorized rules for their detention, permitted residence, removal, and other public-safety measures tied to wartime or invasion conditions. The bill is narrowly focused: it strikes the cited Revised Statutes provisions (codified at 50 U.S.C. 21–24) and contains only a short title and that repeal. It does not add new procedures, funding, or alternative authorities in their place.